Transcript: Abbott and Costello's Classic Comedy in 4K - Retro Drive-In Podcast #3

3, 2, 1, 0, 0, and liftoff! Welcome to the Retro Drive-In Podcast with Jason Pastor Jay Larker. Say the secret word and divide $100. It's a common word, something you find around the house. We want to thank all our sponsors for their help in making this podcast possible. The African Queen. Humphrey Bogart. Boy, is he lost. Hey, hey, bogey. Now let's rewind the tape and join Pastor Jay for some retro entertainment talk on the Retro Drive-In Podcast. Greetings Classic Cinema and TV fans, this is Pastor Jay here with you once again on another retro drive-in podcast. Today we're talking about one of my favorite comedy teams of all time. We're talking about Abbott and Castello. I love these guys. maybe you remember some of the antics of Abbott and Costello throughout your childhood maybe those of you that grew up with Abbott and Costello some of you that maybe are a little bit younger maybe you have never even heard of these guys and that is kind of a shame Abbott and Costello, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are an amazing team of comedians radio, television, movies, you name it they've been a part of the media and it is bringing their comedy in all lines through entertainment many of you may remember their classic routine if nothing else you probably remember Abbott and Costello from their classic routine of who's on first We have who's on first, what's on second, I don't know's on third. That's what I want to find out. I say who's on first, what's on second, I don't know's on third. Yeah, you know the fellow's name? Yes. Well, who's on first? Yes. I mean, the fellow's name. Yes. I mean, the guy playing first. Who? The fellow playing first. Who? The first baseman? Who? The guy playing first. Who is on first? Well, what are you asking me for? I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. Who is on first? I'm asking you who's on first. That's the man's name. Go ahead and tell me. That's the man's name. That's whose name? Yes. Well, go ahead and tell me. Who? The guy on first base. Who? The fella playing first. Look, who is on first? Have you got a first baseman? Yes. Who's playing there? Yes. All I'm trying to find out is what's the guy's name on first base. No, wait a minute. No, wait a minute. Don't mix them up. Watter's on second. Who's on second? No, who is on first? I don't know. He's on third now. We're not talking about him. How did I get on third base? You just mentioned his name. If I mention a third baseman's name, who did I say is playing third? No, who's playing first? Never mind first. I don't know. What's the guy's name on third base? What's on second? Who's on second? Who's on first? I don't know. Third base. Or maybe you remember Abbott and Costello from some of the amazing old monster movies from back in another generation. This one, if you remember the old Universal Monster movies, you had Frankenstein, you had The Mummy, you had Dracula, you had The Invisible Man. All these classic monster movies. What happened was when the monster movies had kind of run their course a little bit and done all that, They decided to think, well, you know what, wonder if we put Abbott and Costello with those monster movies, if we could kind of make something fun. And that they did. And that's where this came in, is this amazing collection here. But we're not talking about this today, but we just wanted to bring this out. Maybe you remember them from some of these, which is like Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, or Abbott and Costello meet the killer Boris Karloff or Abbott and Costello meet the invisible man. Maybe you know Abbott and Costello meet the mummy. Whatever the case may be, Abbott and Costello did a lot of those films from the monster movies, which was amazing, absolutely spectacular, and so much fun to kind of see your classic monster movies going into that type of vein and being able to see all Abbott and Costello dealing with the monsters. And that is probably some of the best stuff that they ever did was with the monsters in my opinion I loved that type of stuff But beyond that Abbott and Costello did so much with movies and TV and radio and so many great stuff And so yeah Abbott and Costello were amazing. Now, this is really, really cool. Abbott and Costello did something really, really cool and uh that was uh they kind of did a uh version of uh jack and the beanstalk this was really really interesting um now jack and the beanstalk is uh known uh you know classic fairy tale uh jack um is um told by uh his mother to uh sell uh the the the cow and um bring the money back well he gets duped into selling the cow for magic beans well thus the magic beans grow this huge beanstalk up to the heavens and he climbs up there meets the giant and does all we know the story of jack and the beanstalk right well they decided why not put abbott and costello in this type of a thing and see what they do well jack and the beanstalk we see this this film was so amazing. Now, in another generation, just a little bit prior to this, in the 30s, there was a classic film called Wizard of Oz. Now, we all know Wizard of Oz, of course, how that it goes from the sepia tone, that kind of brownish, instead of black and white, like a brownish type of tinge, to the color. Well, that's what they did with Jack and the Beanstalk. Basically what it is, is Abbott and Costello. Costello is a babysitter, and Abbott is his agent, if you will. And he gets a job to babysit this young kid, this young boy, and he's telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, and thus he transforms himself into the story, and we see Costello as Jack, and the whole thing plays out just like Jack in the Beanstalk. It's so cool. Well, interestingly enough, this film fell into the public domain. Somewhere along the lines, I don't know what happened, they changed the sepia tone, which is that brownish, kind of like a golden brown type of tint to the movie. They changed it to straight black and white in the public domain versions. I don't know why they did that. I have no clue for that. If anybody has a clue, let me know in the comments. We'll love to hear that. But anyway, they did do that. They changed the black and white. And so the public domain versions you're going to find, like this release on DVD or like copies you'll find on the internet, have the black and white going into the color and then going back to the black and white. Well, I said all that as a kind of intro to where we're at, and that is with this film here. A brand new release, really, really awesome, from MVD Visual and VCI Entertainment. this is Abbott and Costello in Jack and the Beanstalk, and this is on Blu-ray, remastered in 4K, and this is the cool thing. They restored the sepia tone. So you get the original, that Wizard of Oz look at the beginning, and then the color, and then the sepia tone at the end, which is so awesome to see that restored, because for generations, for many times in the releases that we've had, it's not been the original release. It's been that black and white into the color and then back to the black and white, and that's a shame. Well, VCI Entertainment and MVD Visual decided they wanted to do what was right and restore it back to the original, and I am so excited about that to see that they've done that because this is so, so cool to see the way it should be in the original way it was supposed to be seen. I like it. I like it. Is Jack and the Beanstalk Abbott and Costello's best film? No, it's not. Of course not. It's not going to be. Their best film is up for debate. some people would say some of the monster movies that they did with the Universal Monsters some might say some of the war pictures that they did with the army some might say some of the the war pictures you know that they did with the army and the different things some might say that some might have other opinions but the one thing is true in this release and that is this Abbott and Costello are still funny no matter what no matter what they did they're always funny they have that stills that same that same interaction together That is just so cool. The same interaction that made them famous. The same interaction where they played off on one another so well and had so much fun. It's still there. And it's kind of cool to see a fairy tale brought to life in Jack and the Beanstalk once again. I'm so excited that VCI Entertainment and NVD joined forces to restore this film in 4K and make it look like it should. Now, is it a perfect release? Is it completely perfect? Probably not. There is some imperfections in the picture. you're going to see some little imperfections in the print. But the film looks really amazing on Blu-ray. I'm so excited about this. Let's just take a point here. These type of releases are what you're going to find on public domain. And if you go online, you're going to find this type of releases. and the quality here in these releases are very, very less than stellar. This one from VCI Entertainment and MVD Visual is so much more clear. The quality is much clearer. The audio is a clearer audio. You don't have a lot of those pops and snaps and all that type of stuff that you're going to hear that hissing and all that type of stuff. You don't hear all that in this release. It's very, very well done. It's a very good release. Now, what is also kind of cool with this release is the fact that VCI Entertainment has decided to give us an additional film from Abbott and Costello that is also in the public domain, which is African Screams, as you can see right there. If you can see that, and we dropped the DVD. If you can see that there, it is right here. It says African Screams is included. Another amazing film from Abbott and Costello, and it's hard to believe that these two films fell into the public domain, but it is pretty cool that you get both of them here on this release. And I have to say, African Screams also looks very, very good on this Blu-ray. Anytime you get a Blu-ray release, you're going to upgrade, okay? You're getting an upscaled picture. You're getting an upscaled version of the film. And it does look very much more clear. It looks really, really awesome, and it sounds so much better. And this is the whole point of why I say this is such a must-own for any collector of classic film, is because it is in the original sepia tone going into the color. Now, the color version is gorgeous. They really have brought the colors. The colors are gorgeous. They're vibrant. They pop. they literally pop right off the screen it's almost like eye candy if you will it's just when Costello as Jack goes to the land of the giant and you see the giant in all his bright colors and you see all the different other things and the golden goose that lays the golden egg I mean these colors just are transparent They transport you into another world, sort of just like what The Wizard of Oz did. When you went from the land of Kansas to the land of Oz, it, boom, it just exploded, and it was like wow you in another world and that exactly what Abbott and Costello did with this film They take you from the drab real world into the world of fantasy with the land of the giant and all the different characters and all the stuff and it's just amazing. It is so well done. In my opinion, this is a release that kids in this generation need to see because it is so, so well done. Another thing that is pretty cool about these releases, this release here, is there's nothing offensive about it. In a world when we're so politically correct, we worry about, oh, is there something that would offend somebody? No, there's nothing in this that would offend anybody, in my opinion. It's just so well done. It's just a great, great release. I cannot tell, or I cannot express enough how much I'm impressed with this release of Jack and the Beanstalk, and that's why I'm giving it so much love, because it deserves it. If you're, as we're recording this, we're getting ready to head into holiday season. And if you're looking for something that would be good for a family member or something for Christmas time that loves classic comedy and classic movies, this is a really good choice because of the fact that it's taking it back to the original, to the original release of what it is. The sepia tone into the color and back into the sepia tone. That is what it really needed to be all along. I don't know why that ever came about. But wow, what a blessing it is to have this brought it back to the original. I want to thank VCI Entertainment and MVD Visual for sending this our way to check out. We appreciate it so much. If you have not checked out our full written review, you can do so at retroac.blogspot.com. We give all the details, all of our thoughts on this in deep detail and written detail so that you can read it if you would like to do that. it's been restored in 4k so this isn't a 4k release but it has been restored in 4k so you've got the best quality picture you can think of and you can possibly get and it's so cool thanks again to VCI Entertainment for this, we really do appreciate that and we do want you to go check it out if you are a fan of Abbott and Costello I think you're going to be quite impressed with the way this looks and it is so, so worthwhile All right. Well, we thank you for joining us today here on the Retro Drive-In Podcast. Unless you watch these and listen to these, there'd be no point of us doing them. So we thank you for listening in and watching, whether you're listening to the audio version or watching the video version, whichever the case may be. We thank you for spending a little time with us as we continue this journey through classic cinema. be sure to go to retroac.blogspot.com all the time we put up new content all the time whether it's videos, podcasts reviews, entertainment news whatever the case may be go there and check out all the information there we have archived reviews and all kinds of stuff there and you can check them all out alright, until we see you next time with another retro drive-in podcast This is Pastor Jay reminding you that if you want to see a great film, check out a classic, something like Abbott and Costello in Jack and the Beanstalk, restored in 4K on Blu-ray. Yeah, sounds awesome to me. We will see you next time, and have a blessed day. And remember, if you want to see a great film, check out a classic. Bye. We want to thank you for joining us today on the Retro Drive-In Podcast with Jason Pastor Jay Lockard. Have you heard the latest about McTavish? What? He don't know. He's living on the roof. Why would he be living on the roof? He heard someone say the drinks are on the house. The drinks are on the house. You know. But we... A little late, so good night, folks. Be sure to subscribe to our channel so that you can be notified when new content goes live. Bam. Out of an ecchi. Thanks again to all our sponsors for their help in making this podcast possible. I'll see you back at the hut Oh no we couldn't leave a poor defenseless girl like you Out alone in this jungle Yeah you need two defenseless men to protect you Remember to join us next time For another retro drive-in podcast With Jason Pastor Jay Lockard